Tshwane's 'blow for GNU'

You are likely to see continued political infighting at a local level.’

- Marizka Coetzer

The ousting yesterday of Tshwane's DA mayor Cilliers Brink is a poor reflection of the role of the ANC in the government of national unity (GNU) and goodwill between the parties in the GNU could be undermined, says an expert.

"It now seems clear the spirit of goodwill and cooperation at a national level between the ANC and the DA does not extend down to the metros," said political analyst Daniel Silke.

Silke said this also showed there was probably division within the ANC between those that support the GNU at a national level and the Gauteng ANC, that was less enthusiastic about any kind of cooperation with the DA any level.

"In general, it shows that there's a possibility the GNU can be undermined by virtue of the fact the goodwill and spirit is not extending to an important metro like Tshwane," he added.

Silke said if the goodwill at national level was undermined at local level, then service delivery levels would suffer.

"The idea of the GNU was to bring a spirit of cooperation and the only way that could work is if all three spheres of government act together so that the cooperative agreements at GNU level needed to be replicated at the local level," he said.